Vladimir Putin has enacted a law that guarantees his immunity when he leaves the Russian Presidency. Former Russian Presidents are now unable to be prosecuted, detained, arrested, searched, or questioned.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, enacted this Tuesday a law that will guarantee his immunity when he leaves the Russian Presidency (Kremlin) and that makes any judicial process against him as a former head of state almost impossible.
As of now, and according to the diploma that was an initiative of the Putin party (United Russia), the former Russian Presidents cannot be prosecuted, neither administratively nor criminally, and they cannot be detained, arrested, searched, or questioned.
To date, a former Russian head of state has enjoyed immunity only from acts committed during his presidential term or from events related to the exercise of his office.
He was not protected from criminal or administrative proceedings related to previous or subsequent situations.
Currently, this new law will only benefit Putin and his predecessor, Dmitri Medvedev, who served as President between 2008 and 2012.
In the light of the new diploma, a former President can only be deprived of immunity by the Senate on the basis of a charge of high treason brought by the Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament) or by the practice of a serious crime, which must be corroborated by Russian Supreme Court.
A charge against a former President will have to be supported by two-thirds of the members who make up the upper and lower chambers of the Russian Parliament, on the proposal of at least a third of the Duma deputies. The Senate will have three months to make a decision. If the time limit is exceeded, the charge is considered to be rejected.
Previously, a former President could have been deprived of immunity if the Russian Committee of Investigation initiated criminal proceedings for a serious crime committed while in office. Subsequently, the former ruler would be sanctioned by the two chambers of the Russian Parliament.
The new rules will become part of the new Russian Constitution that was approved in a referendum on July 1.
The previous procedure concerning the immunity of former heads of state was contained in a federal law that covered former governors, as well as their families.
Supported by the majority of Russians, the constitutional amendments scrutinized in the July referendum allow Vladimir Putin to remain in the Kremlin after 2024, the year in which his current six-year term ends, and remain in power until 2036, by granting him the right to run for re-election.
Putin, who will be 83 in 2036, has been ahead of Russia’s destinies since 2000, having held the post of President four times.
Between 2008 and 2012, he held the position of the prime minister, thus avoiding violating the law, which allowed only two consecutive terms, having been replaced by Dmitri Medvedev, seen as his political protégé.
